ProCap: The Inter-Agency Standing Committee Protection Standby Capacity Project Annual Report 2023

Background

The inter-agency Protection Standby Capacity Project (ProCap) is managed by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in partnership with the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). In reflection of this partnership, the project management team comprises of OCHA in Geneva and Norwegian Capacity (NorCap) in Oslo. Established in 2005, the project seeks to strengthen inter-agency capacity and leadership to deliver on global commitments to ensure that protection is central to humanitarian action.

As an independent, inter-agency tool, ProCap provides Humanitarian Coordinators (HCs) and Humanitarian Country Teams (HCTs) with dedicated strategic and technical expertise. ProCap contributes to reaching a common conceptual understanding of centrality of protection in humanitarian action. Supporting humanitarian leadership, influencing programming and empowering local networks, the project focuses on capacity development and advocacy, targeting field practitioners.

This work is supplemented by project engagement in policy-level discussions and the sharing of practices and lessons learned, bringing the practitioner’s perspective to global forums, inter-agency panels and thematic learning events.

The common vision of ProCap and its sister project, the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Gender Standby Capacity Project (GenCap), is “a world in which all persons affected by humanitarian crises are safe, respected, empowered and protected and humanitarian action prioritizes gender equality and women’s empowerment.” This vision, along with the joint ProCap and GenCap Strategic Framework 2024−2027, is the basis on which the ProCap project focuses its work.

ProCap is governed by an Advisory Group, established in 2019, that provides guidance related to priorities and project implementation. In 2023, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) chaired the ProCap Advisory Group.